News tagged with saliva

Today at the 45th Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association for Dental Research, researcher David Wong, University of California - Los Angeles, USA, will present a study titled "Saliva Liquid Biopsy." The AADR ...

Research on a new non-invasive method of screening for the 'silent killer', heart failure, by testing saliva instead of blood being developed at QUT, has received a $75,000 Heart Foundation Vanguard Grant.

Young men's interest in babies is associated with their physiological reactivity to sexually explicit material, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological ...

A single course of antibiotics has enough strength to disrupt the normal makeup of microorganisms in the gut for as long as a year, potentially leading to antibiotic resistance, European researchers reported this week in ...

Future Science Group (FSG) today announced the publication of a new article in Future Science OA, reporting data demonstrating the possibility of measuring 10 biomarkers relevant to autism spectrum disorder in adult saliva.

By licking a wound it heals faster – this is not simply popular belief, but scientifically proven. Our saliva consists of water and mucus, among other things, and the mucus plays an important role. It stimulates white blood ...

New research from the University of Alberta shows that body fluids such as saliva may hold the keys to understanding a person's likelihood of developing Alzheimer's, even among those who don't yet have memory and thinking ...

Saliva

Saliva (also referred to as spit , spittle or slobber) is the watery and usually frothy substance produced in the mouths of humans and most other animals. Saliva is produced in and secreted from the salivary glands. Human saliva is composed mostly of water, but also includes electrolytes, mucus, antibacterial compounds, and various enzymes. As part of the initial process of food digestion, the enzymes in the saliva break down some of the starch and fat in the food at the molecular level. Saliva also breaks down food caught in the teeth, protecting them from bacteria that cause decay. Furthermore, saliva lubricates and protects the teeth, the tongue, and the tender tissues inside the mouth. Saliva also plays an important role in tasting food by trapping thiols produced from odourless food compounds by anaerobic bacteria living in the mouth.

Various species have evolved special uses for saliva that go beyond predigestion. Some swifts use their gummy saliva to build their nests. Some Aerodramus swiftlet nests are made only from saliva and used to make bird's nest soup. Cobras, vipers, and certain other members of the venom clade hunt with venomous saliva injected by fangs. Some arthropods, such as spiders and caterpillars, create thread from salivary glands.